Physical & Digital EST: The Future of Home Video Discussion Thread

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by gotmule

Here are the results of our friend Vilya’s week and what he has upcoming....

thanks for the long post full of details. Really hope being part of the trial will help him.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Here's to Vilya

For those interested in the tech side of A/V, look at post 1079 and 1081 in this thread.

Side note, Stacey says the BOM for this $8.05 per unit. I assume this covers the cost of the 3 disc, case, booklet, inserts, etc. Don't know how many sets they will order but one would assume they are nowhere near the numbers for most movies on disc therefore do not get large quantity pricing.

[Wendell R. Breland]

For those that may be interested in a combo media player and streamer, Dune has a new box coming soon, info here.

For myself, will see how it test out, if really good then it may replace the Nvidia Shield Pro in my home theater.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by wendell r. Breland

here's to vilya

For those interested in the tech side of a/v, look at post 1079 and 1081 in this thread.

Side note, stacey says the bom for this $8.05 per unit. I assume this covers the cost of the 3 disc, case, booklet, inserts, etc. Don't know how many sets they will order but one would assume they are nowhere near the numbers for most movies on disc therefore do not get large quantity pricing.

🍸

[Warm Gun]

Originally Posted by Wendell R. Breland

For those that may be interested in a combo media player and streamer, Dune has a new box coming soon, info here.

For myself, will see how it test out, if really good then it may replace the Nvidia Shield Pro in my home theater.

I want to replace my Zidoo at some point. It's good, but always lags on steep bitrate declines of 4K movies. Was watching one Criterion 4K where it lagged every time there was a fade out to black. Often happens in end credits, where very little data is used. Also often lags when I rewind 4K movies too much, forcing me to restart, which I went over a couple of months ago here.

[bhampton]

Zidoo didn't work for either and it was the end of my Plex/JRiver/Infuse/Zidoo and general patience for media servers.

I didn't have the same problems you have but I did read that there were bugs before I bought it and it's still a good solution for a lot of folks.

Compared to the workflow of creating these disc sourced digital files, I would almost rather just watch streaming.

So, I use the discs and it's a lot more productive.
Your Mileage May Vary

(And, whenever I get bored I may try the server stuff again too.)

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by bhampton

(And, whenever I get bored I may try the server stuff again too.)

I've used a Synology NAS for many years for computer files, PBS, CBS and other A/V content storage. Have always had a problem in that sometimes there would be a short stutter/freeze when playing content using different media players. A few months ago I replaced the old Synology with a newer Synology (DS420j) and have not had stutter/freeze with it.

CD's, DVD's and BD have been mostly trouble free. Had a few LD that warped, rotted. Fairly frequent head cleaning for D-Theater. Streaming has problems with network congestion, apps that play Atmos on one device but not another, content does not play at original frame rate on some devices or needs helper apps. Its always something to contend with. Throw in DV and the something gets even larger.

[stonesfan129]

I have to wonder how much life is left in Blu-ray. I went down to my local Redbox the other day (there are two in my town) and neither one of them have any new movies on Blu-ray. They only carry DVD and it must be like 3 copies because every new movie had 0 discs available nearby. If I want Blu-ray, I pretty much had to drive into Madison. They didn't even get the movie Banshees of Insherin. I don't think they had The Menu either. Some spat with Disney? Anyway, it's almost getting cheaper to just wait for a $3.99 stream through Apple or Vudu. I love the convenience of Apple and Vudu, but what happens when the owners of these movies put out the newest format and decide to decommission the server?

I had a friend who had a bunch of videos from a site called R18. It was a JAV site and it kept having problems with American credit card processors. He must have had over 100 videos in there. Well they were DRM-protected so you either had to stream them through the site, through the Roku app (which they stopped carrying) or download them and play them through a proprietary DRM-player that phoned home with you account info and auth'd. Well site shut down, even if you downloaded the videos they no longer auth to the server cause the server is offline. Basically all that money is now gone, no refunds.

This is what I fear happening with digital one day. I know maybe I'm just being paranoid but I feel like it's inevitable. I'd honestly rather go back to the days when I could walk down to Hollywood Video or Blockbuster right here in my town and rent something.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

I have to wonder how much life is left in Blu-ray. I went down to my local Redbox the other day (there are two in my town) and neither one of them have any new movies on Blu-ray. They only carry DVD and it must be like 3 copies because every new movie had 0 discs available nearby. If I want Blu-ray, I pretty much had to drive into Madison. They didn't even get the movie Banshees of Insherin. I don't think they had The Menu either. Some spat with Disney? Anyway, it's almost getting cheaper to just wait for a $3.99 stream through Apple or Vudu. I love the convenience of Apple and Vudu, but what happens when the owners of these movies put out the newest format and decide to decommission the server?

I had a friend who had a bunch of videos from a site called R18. It was a JAV site and it kept having problems with American credit card processors. He must have had over 100 videos in there. Well they were DRM-protected so you either had to stream them through the site, through the Roku app (which they stopped carrying) or download them and play them through a proprietary DRM-player that phoned home with you account info and auth'd. Well site shut down, even if you downloaded the videos they no longer auth to the server cause the server is offline. Basically all that money is now gone, no refunds.

This is what I fear happening with digital one day. I know maybe I'm just being paranoid but I feel like it's inevitable. I'd honestly rather go back to the days when I could walk down to Hollywood Video or Blockbuster right here in my town and rent something.

Collect instead. Plenty life left with Blu and 4K disc (UHD) by the way.

[bhampton]

The better question is how much life is left in Redbox.

Renting movies with streaming is popular enough but it could be nice of disc rentals remains an option.

I don't often rent movies so I just buy them. If they get less easy to find then I suppose I will buy less of them. Lately though I find plenty I'm interested in.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

This is what I fear happening with digital one day. I know maybe I'm just being paranoid but I feel like it's inevitable.

For some that day has come and gone. As mentioned before, those that purchased titles via the Sony Movie Store (download to Sony media player) lost access when Sony closed the store.

I'd honestly rather go back to the days when I could walk down to Hollywood Video or Blockbuster right here in my town and rent something.

Days long gone. Been going no further than my mail box for many years for a continuous stream of movies on BD. Never paid a late fee either. Netflix by mail may have a free trial, site here.

[cheez avenger]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

I have to wonder how much life is left in Blu-ray. I went down to my local Redbox the other day (there are two in my town) and neither one of them have any new movies on Blu-ray. They only carry DVD and it must be like 3 copies because every new movie had 0 discs available nearby. If I want Blu-ray, I pretty much had to drive into Madison. They didn't even get the movie Banshees of Insherin. I don't think they had The Menu either. Some spat with Disney? Anyway, it's almost getting cheaper to just wait for a $3.99 stream through Apple or Vudu. I love the convenience of Apple and Vudu, but what happens when the owners of these movies put out the newest format and decide to decommission the server?

I had a friend who had a bunch of videos from a site called R18. It was a JAV site and it kept having problems with American credit card processors. He must have had over 100 videos in there. Well they were DRM-protected so you either had to stream them through the site, through the Roku app (which they stopped carrying) or download them and play them through a proprietary DRM-player that phoned home with you account info and auth'd. Well site shut down, even if you downloaded the videos they no longer auth to the server cause the server is offline. Basically all that money is now gone, no refunds.

This is what I fear happening with digital one day. I know maybe I'm just being paranoid but I feel like it's inevitable. I'd honestly rather go back to the days when I could walk down to Hollywood Video or Blockbuster right here in my town and rent something.

I don't use Redbox after they were bought out by the Chicken Soup for the Soul corporation.

I use GameFly to rent 4Ks and I also buy used 4Ks from them, as well. They have a great selection and are worth every penny.

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

I'd honestly rather go back to the days when I could walk down to Hollywood Video or Blockbuster right here in my town and rent something.

Have you checked to see if your local library carries movies?

[veritas]

Warner bros is expiring all their digital copy codes. What do you guys think of that?

I have pretty mixed feelings about it. I can’t decide if it will make me spend more as I can’t wait as long so I’ll spend like 10% more perhaps. On the other hand it removed probably 1000 dollars off my to buy list.

Overall I feel like I’ll spend 10% more on average for Warner titles while buying like 60% less in general.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by veritas

Warner bros is expiring all their digital copy codes. What do you guys think of that?

I think it's pretty clear that subscription has made the studios fully lose interest in letting you "own" the online copy.

I lost confidence in online movies a while back. For some it could have been when Ultraviolet closed. For some it could have been when Vudu was sold. For me it was just as soon as I couldn't have what I thought I had purchased.

Going disc only means missing out on new things like the Velma series. This is an hidden benifit.

-Brian

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by veritas

Warner bros is expiring all their digital copy codes. What do you guys think of that?

I have pretty mixed feelings about it. I can’t decide if it will make me spend more as I can’t wait as long so I’ll spend like 10% more perhaps. On the other hand it removed probably 1000 dollars off my to buy list.

Overall I feel like I’ll spend 10% more on average for Warner titles while buying like 60% less in general.

What do I think of digital codes? They go in the trash where they belong.

[stonesfan129]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

Have you checked to see if your local library carries movies?

They do, but those Blu-rays and DVDs are often very abused and I often have a hard time playing them. But that is a good way to check out some Criterions before buying them.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

They do, but those Blu-rays and DVDs are often very abused and I often have a hard time playing them. But that is a good way to check out some Criterions before buying them.

If they offer Kanopy it's also got a lot of Criterion releases. Some of those movies are so good you only want to watch them once.

[stonesfan129]

Originally Posted by bhampton

The better question is how much life is left in Redbox.

Renting movies with streaming is popular enough but it could be nice of disc rentals remains an option.

I don't often rent movies so I just buy them. If they get less easy to find then I suppose I will buy less of them. Lately though I find plenty I'm interested in.

I think you're right that it's the rental services dying off, not the discs. I was a DVD Netflix subscriber off-and-on over the years, but lately I am having to wait over a month before they ship new releases to me. They just sit in "Long Wait" forever. And they're getting slower and slower sending me discs, even with the 3-discs Blu-ray Unlimited option.

Picked up these today:



and



for $20/ea through Amazon. Training Day's original Blu-ray release just wasn't very good. Like a 13mbps MPEG-2 encode with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. I'm expecting the 4K to be a night-and-day upgrade. I just hope the discs play fine. I have had problems with some BD100 discs (mostly just Paramount titles) on my LG UBK90 and Xbox One S.

[Wendell R. Breland]

It appears just staying afloat is the new game in streaming.

HBO Max, Disney, and Paramount Shift Strategies to Keep Streaming Alive S&V article here.